Aramark

Good morning and welcome to Aramark's first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings results conference call. My name is Kevin and I'll be your operator for today's call. At this time, I'd like to inform you this conference is being recorded for rebroadcast and that all participants are on a listen-only mode. We will open the conference call for questions at the conclusion of the company's remarks. I will now turn the call over to Felice Cassell, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Ms. Cassell, please proceed.

Thank you and welcome to Aramark's earnings conference call and webcast. This morning, we will be hearing from our CEO, John Zilmer, as well as our CFO, Jim Tarangelo. As always, there are accompanying slides for this call that can be viewed through the webcast and are also available on the IR website for easy access. Our notice regarding forward-looking statements is included in our press release. During this call, we will be making comments that are forward-looking. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied as a result of various risks, uncertainties, and important factors, including those discussed in the risk factors, MD&A, and other sections of our annual report on Form 10-K and SEC filings. We will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these items to US GAAP can be found in our press release and IR website. With that, I will now turn the call over to John.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fiscal first quarter earnings call. Thank you for joining us. We're very pleased with the strong results delivered in the quarter, even when considering the calendar shift referenced in the earnings release. The company has significant business momentum, which Jim and I will share in greater detail. We believe we're well positioned to record record-breaking financial performance driven by our growth mindset, operational discipline, and unwavering commitment to service. We're seeing multiple positive growth trends throughout the organization, including extraordinary client retention in both FSS U.S. and international, levels we've never seen before achieved at this point in the fiscal calendar, combined with significant new client wins already awarded to us early in the fiscal year. particularly in healthcare, education, and corrections within the U.S., and in sports, mining, and energy within the international, with substantial new business opportunities immediately upon us, giving us great confidence in reaching our net new target of 4% to 5% in fiscal 26. And lastly, adding new purchasing spend in our global supply chain GPO network within hospitality areas such as theme parks, hotels, and now cruise lines, in addition to benefiting from increased volume and scale occurring more broadly at the company. In the first quarter, organic revenue for Aramark grew 5% to $4.8 billion and would have increased approximately 8% if not for the calendar shift. Growth resulted from both strong base business and net new business. We expect performance acceleration to occur as we successfully onboard a record level of new account wins, combined with maintaining the unprecedented retention levels I just mentioned. Notably, this doesn't factor in sizable new client wins, which would drive our business momentum even further, and we're expecting those to begin this fiscal year. Moving to the business segments. FSS U.S. organic revenue increased to $3.4 billion, or 2%. it's worth highlighting that the segment would have grown approximately 5% if not for the calendar shift, which primarily affected education. Of course, this growth will simply be recaptured in the second quarter as part of our results, ultimately having no impact on the full year. Top line revenue growth drivers in the quarter were led by workplace experience, which delivered a 17th consecutive quarter of double digit growth from launching significant new business wins in addition to strong holiday catering activity. Refreshments mobilized new accounts at an accelerated rate and identifying additional growth opportunities from an integrated enterprise-wide strategy. Healthcare experienced strong base business, specifically from vertical sales success and the expansion of multi-service offerings. Sports and entertainment expanded our college football portfolio by providing a pro-level hospitality experience where alcohol unit sales are now becoming comparable to NFL stadiums. And corrections continue to add statewide systems as our Into Work program is nationally recognized for the ability to provide pathways for education, career development, and rehabilitation. Just last week, we successfully launched operations at Penn Medicine. the largest contract win ever in the US, as you recall. As the fiscal year progresses, we'll continue to roll out services across Penn Medicine's nearly 4,000 bed, seven hospital system, including patient and retail food service, environmental services, patient transportation, and an integrated call center to support operations. I'm extremely excited to announce that our success in demonstrating Aramark's enterprise-wide capabilities and collaboration resulted in our newest healthcare win, RWJBarnabas Health, the largest, most comprehensive academic health system in New Jersey, covering eight counties, serving over five million people. RWJBarnabas Health has 18 primary locations with 5,700 beds. Anticipated to launch this summer, we will support their patient and retail dining, environmental services, and patient transport. This represents one of the largest contracts awarded in healthcare in recent history. Other clients added to the portfolio include the University of Albany, where we began operations this semester to redefine the student dining experience through innovation, inclusivity, and community engagement, as well as a new statewide relationship with the Alabama Department of Corrections to deliver food services, integrating our proprietary AI platforms for menu planning and operational efficiency across 27 facilities. As you can see, we're already off to a great start for the fiscal year in new account wins. We anticipate the U.S. growth trajectory to continue from strong new business, high retention rates, and increased volume growth. Once again, international deliberate outstanding results with revenue reaching $1.5 billion in the first quarter, an increase of over 13% year-over-year on an organic revenue basis, with international revenue results largely unaffected by the calendar shift. International reported a 19th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, maintained an exceptional client retention level, and every country contributed to revenue growth in the quarter, with the UK, Spain, Germany, and Chile leading the way. New business in the first quarter within International included the Welsh Rugby Union, highlighted on the last earnings call. In just a few days, we'll be serving 74,000 fans of Principality Stadium, the largest stadium in Wales and the fourth largest in the UK. and the location for the upcoming highly attended Six Nations Rugby Championships. We were also awarded copper mining and state-owned giant Codelco and other meaningful mining contracts in Latin America. The international team achieved well over 100 core account wins in the first quarter, providing us with the ability to establish additional business development and operational scale in the countries we serve. Now, for an update on global supply chain, Performance was strong in the quarter as the team is focused on growing and optimizing spend and offering superior products, services, economics, analytical insights, and sourcing solutions for our clients. Inflation continues to actualize in the range we anticipated, with all global regions in line or favorable to our assumptions. We remain highly committed to GPO growth and are actively pursuing meaningful opportunities. Double digit growth propelled well over $20 billion worth of contracted spend as we expand business in international regions, increase penetration in adjacent hospitality areas, and further scale through select strategic acquisitions. AI-driven technology continues to differentiate our supply chain and GPO capabilities, delivering back-end efficiencies and actionable business insights. Tools such as mobile AI chatbots and AI enhanced analytics provide GPO clients real-time visibility into their business. In our own internal supply chain operations, AI systems are accelerating back-end efficiency and productivity gains. Before handing over the call to Jim, I want to reiterate our confidence in realizing the numerous growth opportunities ahead for the business this fiscal year, driven by the strategic and operational actions underway at the company. Our success comes from the teams throughout the organization and around the globe who show up every day with purpose, serving with integrity, solving problems with ingenuity, and delivering consistent excellence.

Jim? Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. We're off to a great start to fiscal 26. The unprecedented levels of success with our annualized grossly ranging client retention last year have built the foundation for our strong outlook, and we believe we're well on track to deliver on our financial targets for 26. More importantly, this momentum in the business has continued and we are extremely excited about our growth prospects going forward. I'll now provide some insights into our first quarter financial performance before reviewing our expectations for the second quarter, as well as for the overall fiscal year. Just to level set regarding the calendar shift, As a reminder, our fourth quarter fiscal 25 had a 53rd or extra week. While this has no impact on our full year 26 results, it does affect the cadence of quarterly comparisons. Due to the 53rd week in 25, each quarter in 26 starts and ends a week later than the comparable quarter last year, shifting strong activity and low activity weeks between reporting periods. With that context, as John mentioned, organic revenue growth in the first quarter was up 5% on track with what we anticipated. As we discussed on our previous earnings calls, we expected the calendar shift to have a 3% to 4% unfavorable impact on growth in the first quarter, and that's exactly what occurred, as the estimated impact of this shift was approximately $125 million, or about 3% on revenue. Excluding the impact from the calendar shift, organic revenue growth in the quarter would have been up approximately 8% at the high end of our long-term growth algorithm. Now, for the second quarter, we have the opposite occurrence in that a low activity week falls out of Q2 and is replaced with a strong activity week. We estimate the positive effect of this shift to be a benefit and a similar contribution of about 3% on revenue. Turning to profitability in the quarter, operating income was 218 million, up slightly versus the prior year. Adjusted operating income was 263 million, up 1% on a constant currency basis compared to the same period last year. The calendar shift reduced AOI by an estimated 25 million. AOI growth would have been approximately 11% without the calendar shift. The quarter benefited from higher revenue levels, the leveraging of technology capabilities, particularly in supply chain, and disciplined organizational cost management. Now to the business segments. The U.S. had AOI at a 1% decline compared to the same period last year with a calendar shift impacting growth by an estimated 10%. The U.S. AOI growth would have been approximately 9% without the calendar shift. The Workplace Experience Group refreshments and corrections had strong performance in the quarter, driven by revenue drop-through, enhanced technology driving efficiencies, and supply chain productivity, and above-unit cost management. The international segment had year-over-year AOI growth of 12% on a constant currency basis. Profitability growth was led by strong results in the UK, Spain, and Chile, which was partially offset by some mobilization costs in a couple of countries from new business within sports and entertainment and higher ed, as well as a slight impact from the calendar shift. Moving to the remainder of the income statement, interest expense was $81 million and the adjusted tax rate was approximately 25%. Our quarterly performance resulted in GAAP EPS of $0.36 and adjusted EPS of $0.51, with the calendar shift impacting adjusted EPS growth by approximately 13%. Regarding cash flow, as expected and consistent with our typical first quarter cadence, we saw a cash outflow that reflects the natural seasonality of the business. This increased compared to the prior year due to greater working capital use driven by strong growth in the business. Capital expenditures were higher from the timing of commitments associated with sizable new business wins and certain client renewals. We continue to advance our capital allocation priorities by repurchasing another 30 million of Aramark shares as part of our share repurchase program. We also took steps to optimize our financial flexibility by proactively repricing 2.4 billion of 2030 term loans at lower interest rates. The repricing resulted in interest expense savings of 25 basis points. We will continue to pursue opportunities to further enhance our capital structure with a focus on shareholder value creation. At quarter end, the company had approximately $1.4 billion in cash availability. Turning to the outlook, our second quarter is progressing well and in line with our expectations. We believe revenue growth will continue to be strong as we onboard and roll out new business, including those recently commencing operations, DePaul University, and the University of Albany and Collegiate Hospitality, and the University of Pennsylvania healthcare system, as John mentioned. Regarding profitability, we also expect AOI to benefit from our key operating levers driven by strong supply chain efficiencies, effective cost discipline, and of course, higher revenue levels. With all that said, we anticipate performance in the second quarter to be right in line with current Wall Street expectations. We're also well on track and highly confident in achieving our full-year guidance, particularly given the phenomenal trends we are seeing in the business. As a reminder, our full-year outlook for fiscal 26 is as follows. Organic revenue growth of 7% to 9%, AOI increasing 12% to 17%, adjusted EPS growth of 20% to 25%, and a leverage ratio below three times. In summary, we are off to a strong start to the year as we continue to advance our growth strategies, fueled by extensive new business wins and outstanding client retention. We are energized about the opportunities ahead and remain highly focused on delivering exceptional top and bottom line performance. Thank you for your time this morning, John.

I want to personally thank our teams for maintaining virtually flawless client retention to date while continuing to drive exciting new business opportunities. Our efforts are centered on our ability to create a consistently strong and sustainable business focused on providing valued hospitality services to our clients. We expect to build upon our growth momentum throughout this fiscal year and beyond. I'm extremely excited about what's next to come. Operator, we'll now open the call for questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star then 11 on your touchtone phone. If you're using the speakerphone, you may need to pick up the hints at first before pressing the numbers. In order to accommodate participants in the question queue, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. To remove yourself from the queue, please press star 11 again. We'll pause for a moment while we compile our Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Ian Zafina with Oppenheimer. Your line is open. Hi. Great.

Thank you very much. It seems like you guys are winning a lot of competitive business here, and some larger competitors are included in that mix. Is this a trend we should expect here? And then maybe what do you kind of attribute the success to? Thanks.

Yeah, I would say we have enjoyed significant success over the last, certainly over the course of the last year and going into 26 in competitive new account wins. Some of those wins are very complex, large organizations that are part self-op and part served by our competitors. And we've been lucky enough to win two very large opportunities in Penn and RWJBarnabas. that represent very significant both competitive wins and self-op conversions. So we see that trend continuing. We're positioned extraordinarily well. to win in these situations, the capabilities that our teams have built, the systems that we can bring to bear that serve our clients well and can demonstrate to them in these sales processes are significant. And so each of these decisions is independent. All of these clients make judgments based on what's best for their needs. And we've been able to demonstrate a very unique capability and have been lucky enough to be selected in those opportunities. So we're very pleased with the performance to date and lots of wind in our sails, if you will.

Okay, thanks. And then just as a follow-up, kind of like a multi-parter here, what I wanted to see is or find out, are there any other large bidding opportunities upcoming or also rebidding that's happening, any larger ones that are coming, and that would be dovetailing into just retention in general. What are you guys doing here that you just continue to improve retention and seeing it at these exceptional levels? Thanks.

Yeah, thank you. Good question. And absolutely, we are focused every day on retention. And it is the number one driver of our ultimate success when we can retain the clients that we serve. It's very important. And so the first part of the question with respect to new bidding opportunities, I'm not going to comment on other large pursuits that we have ongoing at the present time. Because they are competitive in nature and I don't want to signal our strategy to our competitors, there are a number of large opportunities that we are pursuing. I would say for the bidding cycle this season, we have a kind of a normalized bidding cycle. As you know, it's the time of year where K-12 and higher ed are going through their bid processes. but we are achieving record high retention at a time in the fiscal year when normally we would have lost a little bit of business by now. So we're very pleased with the results to date. We're hyper-focused on it. It's a very important part of our compensation systems. People are very aware of how seriously we all take this as an organization. So we're pleased. We're driving for success, and we want to get better every day.

Okay, thank you very much. Great quarter. Our next question comes from Neil Tyler with Ralph Child and Co. Redburn. Your line is open.

Yeah, good morning. Thank you. Good morning, John, Jim. I just wanted to zoom in on a couple of the sub-segments that you called out and ask for some help in framing their materiality. Specifically, within... sports and leisure the sort of the absolute relative scale of the of the college athletics sort of revenues where they've sort of got to if you can give us any help on on how to think about those because that's something you've been sort of talking very enthusiastically about for for a little while now and similarly in in um business and industry the the refreshment component seems to be sort of outpacing um everything else so just you know are these sort of, you know, stand out, you know, sufficient to drive the levels of growth on their own? Or is there, you know, there's a lot going on elsewhere, presumably, as well. So I wonder if you could help us there. Then I've got a sort of just a quick follow-up on margins, if that's okay.

Sure. The revenue growth is very broad-based and wide-ranging across the lines of business and geography. So we're seeing, you know, very good, strong net new business performance, both in the FSS U.S. and in international markets. And it's not really driven by one group or another. When we highlight these, it's because they've had outstanding performance, but the other businesses are all performing well as well. So we feel very good about both the broad-based nature of it and the success of the entire organization as we pursue these growth opportunities. With respect to the sports and entertainment business, we haven't really disclosed The breakdown between collegiate sports and our pro teams, and we don't intend to disclose that at this point. I will say that when you think about the scale and the size of opportunities in collegiate athletics, it's very significant. We're certainly the largest player in that segment to date. and continue to pursue significant opportunities going forward. And we may at some point in the future make the decision to disclose that information separately, but at present we have not.

I'll just add, you asked about refreshments. That's a significant piece of our business and industry segment, and as we mentioned, that segment has grown double-digit 17 quarters in a row, and it's both our B&I, underlying B&I business, and our refreshment service business that is benefiting from very high retention levels, really strong new business. So they both are growing double digit and contributing to the success that we're seeing in that segment.

Got it. Thank you. And then just if I can follow up on margins. Jim, I wonder if you could just sort of remind us or sort of handhold a little bit on the puts and takes in the adjusted operating margin segment. this quarter compared to what we should expect over the remainder of the year? Just to sort of make the major items, if that's okay. Thank you.

Yeah, sure. I think the first comment, as I mentioned in the script, was, you know, we have about $25 million of sort of costs associated with the 53rd week in the first quarter. That will unwind. So if you adjust for that impact, margins will be up about 20 basis points in Q1. We do have the last quarter overlapping the impact. We mentioned the GLP-1s and elevated medical costs during the last earnings call. We revamped that program, so that will no longer be a factor starting January. So those are two of the items I would point to in Q1. But it's primarily the 53rd week impact that will unwind in the second quarter. So when you look at the first half, it will be more normalized. And then for the full year, you know, on track for the 30 to 40 basis points that we've consistently delivered and talked about and embedded in the guidance that we provided in the beginning of the year. So margins are falling in line with our expectations.

That's perfect. Thank you very much. Very helpful.

Our next question comes from Leo Carrington with Citi. Your line is open.

Good morning. Thank you very much for taking my questions. If I could follow up perhaps on this question net new growth you've been experiencing what are your expectations in terms of the duration that this could persist especially as it's driven more by very strong retention rather than acceleration and gross wins as I understand this I mean at what point in the year do you have the confidence to perhaps exceed the target and then secondly can I ask the two questions on AI I mean firstly how do you perceive the risks or opportunities around your revenues? For instance, what's your blue chip office clients reporting in terms of the importance of catering in the context of hiring and investing in the office environment? Is there an opportunity in data centers for you? And then secondly, On the cost side, you referenced the backend efficiencies and supply chain productivity. To what extent are your AI initiatives here paying off already? Thank you.

Yeah, that's a lot. So let's break it down into chunks and talk about AI first. And that is, let me break that into a couple different pieces. First of all, in terms of the back office productivity and the impact on our costs, we're already seeing the impact of AI particularly on supply chain as we use it to both accelerate the data capture process as well as the negotiating process, if you will, for the services and the products that we buy. So it's already had a significant impact. And it's important to note that our investment in AI is really relatively small. It is part of our normal IT operating budget We don't have any significant program investment or significant capital investment targeted towards AI implementation. We're able to do this as part of our ongoing IT spend and driving significant performance improvement already through it. So we feel very confident in the use of AI both as it relates to our organization as well as the improved profitability. With respect to the business opportunity, we see the evolution of jobs in the United States as one that will be productive for us. As you can tell from our revenue growth that's occurring in BNI and in refreshment services, we have lots of runway to grow the business. We serve customers in all kinds of locations, whether it's manufacturing, office, mining, remote camps, all of those kinds of the national parks, the vast majority of our businesses will probably see an opportunity coming from the application of AI in their respective segments. And so we don't see it as a threat to the business. We see it as an opportunity, an opportunity for further growth. Obviously, if data centers are under construction, we would certainly have an opportunity to pursue and to bid on those kinds of opportunities. It's very analogous to our remote camps and mining businesses, if you will. So we see it as a long-term opportunity for the company, not a threat to our organization. And I think I'm old enough to probably be able to say, listen, I remember the days when everybody thought robotics was going to replace everybody in a plant, in an automotive plant. And workforces adjust, processes adjust, companies adjust. We see it as a long-term opportunity with a changing marketplace, and the jobs may change, but people will still be employed. So anyway, we see it as a long-term opportunity. Jim, do you want to take the other half of the question?

Yeah, the other we talked about, I think you started with the run rate and opportunity in pipelines. So we're certainly running ahead. where we expect it to be in terms of net new, well on track to deliver and perhaps exceed on the 4% to 5%. So we're in a really strong position in terms of retention, as John mentioned earlier, just at the size and scale of retention risk that we may have at this point in the year. That, coupled with a number of the large wins we talked about, and then on top of that, very robust pipeline of opportunities, many active discussions, and many of those pretty close to finalizing. So we've kicked off the year in a very good spot, and we'll keep you posted over the next couple months here.

Yeah, and I'll just add one last comment on that. You know, we see the long-term growth algorithm in this company, you know, continuing to improve as a result of our operational discipline. We're getting better and better every day. with respect to both elements of the business, which is selling these new accounts and these new opportunities by applying great systems and processes to these client organizations, as well as continued operational improvement, which leads to higher client retention. Both elements are important. Our gross new wins last year were the highest we've ever had, and we continue to see very strong success in both new business wins and retention.

Thank you, John. Thank you, Jeff.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Jafar Mastari with BNP Paribas. Your line is open.

Hi. Good morning. First question, please, on just pricing and volumes. Curious if you could quantify the contribution to organic growth in the quarter and maybe update your views for where like-for-like pricing and like-for-like volumes land for the full year, please.

Sure. Yeah, so for Q1, you know, pricing essentially about 3% in line with inflation in line with With our expectations, that's offset essentially by 3%, as we talked about, for the 53rd week. And the remainder of the growth coming from growth and volume for Q1. For the full year, I think we're still on track. We still anticipate pricing being about 3%. Volume is sort of 0.5% to 1%. And then at this point, just at the middle of the range and perhaps better for net new would be about 4.5%. That would put you right in the middle And as we talked about on track, we're encouraged by the trends we're seeing in net new and opportunities to exceed that.

Super. Thank you. And just a follow-up on cash flow. It's a normal cash burn quarter, but that normal seasonal outflow was $200 million more than last year. Can you perhaps detail some of the moving parts there? It looks like CapEx in the narrow sense. You mentioned buying facilities and building stuff was actually exactly in line. But then payments to clients were 40 million higher. And if that's correct, then is the balance of 160 million all a working capital outflow? Does it stay there? Does it revert?

Yeah, the payments to clients we essentially view as capital investment in our clients. It's more of an accounting distinction. But yeah, for the first quarter, CapEx was about 4.5% of revenues. That is elevated, right? And that's a result of the success we've seen with our new business and a little weighted toward sports and higher education, which as you know, that does require A higher percentage of capital, some of the business, a higher proportion of business we rolled out in Q1 was from those sectors. We do expect that to normalize. Historically, if you look, we're running about 3.5% capital spending as a percentage of revenue. By the end of the year, we should be back in that range. So Q1 was a little skewed with the capital. And then in terms of working capital, as this business grows, we do have a use of working capital, seasonal use that was a little bit higher than the prior year. As growth accelerates, additional working capital goes in. So it's in line with our expectations and how we planned it out.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew Stouderman with JP Morgan. Your line is open.

Hi, it's Andrew. I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly about the assumption for client retention in the fiscal 26 guide. I think you said You're counting on maintaining the same high client retention percentage that you experienced in fiscal 25. I just wanted to make sure that I heard that correctly. And then also the second question is, is there anything else that you want to add directionally about trends in the start of this current second quarter outside of the calendar shift and the Penn Hospital start?

Yeah, in terms of retention, as we said, Andrew, we're actually – at a better spot in terms of retention this year than prior year. And as you know, last year was a record retention for the organization. So it's in early days, but I think we're on track to be consistent or even better than what we delivered in fiscal 25. And sorry, your question on trends?

Yeah, nothing other than what we've already modeled, I think, is probably fair, Andrew. Nothing different. We obviously have a startup of new accounts, but nothing that's really impacting the second quarter differently than we've already disclosed. Okay. Thank you.

Next question comes from Andrew Whitman with Baird. Your line is open.

Okay. There was a comment in your prepared remarks about inflation. I think you guys said that it was running kind of in line or maybe slightly better than you'd anticipated. John, maybe I thought you could elaborate on that a little bit more, maybe decompose it into maybe food and supplies prices versus the labor that you're seeing out there. And if it is running better, I'm just wondering if it's just kind of immaterially better or if there's an offset somewhere else in the P&L that kind of keeps the profit guidance where it is.

Yeah, thanks, Andrew. I would say it's... You know, it's roughly 3% on a food basis, and that cuts across multiple geographies, a little higher in one and a little lower in another. So in the aggregate, it's right in that range of what we anticipated. We still see some elevated risk on certain commodities, but everything else kind of coming in line. Obviously, the big commodity in the U.S. is beef. which continues to uh demand continues to outstrip supply so pricing is fairly high but we're able to mitigate that you know through the menu design and the like so we think the that inflation number is is very consistent with what we expected and what we're seeing unfold from a labor cost perspective i would say it's still probably in that range as well you know different uh different across geographies in various countries, but in the aggregate, again, in that range. So we expect the overall impact of inflation to be about 3% to offset it through appropriate pricing strategies in market and various other changes. So really nothing extraordinary in the inflation environment for us at this stage.

Okay, cool. That's my only question. Thank you very much. Thanks, Andrew.

Our next question comes from Josh Chan with UBS. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning, John and Jim. I guess you mentioned the unprecedented retention trend, so I'm just wondering what is changing or improving this year and how does the retention pipeline, if you will, or the defense pipeline kind of look for the rest of the year?

Yeah, I would say... Again, we are just extraordinarily focused on retention as being a key driver of our success. And so we continue to get better and better at it. We continue to have very high expectations for our teams. And frankly, their performance has been extraordinary. And so it's a combination of a lot of different things, but mostly it's about performance and it's about delivering the services that our clients expect and meeting their expectations. With respect to the pipeline, we have a fairly normalized year, nothing very large on the horizon in terms of retention risks. I would say it's a fairly normal year.

Okay, great. Thanks for the call there. Are you seeing any change in terms of customer spend, average spend per transaction? Is that trend continuing to move up? What are you seeing there?

Yeah, we continue to see broad consumer support, particularly if you break down the consumer transactions in sports and entertainment, we're seeing very good per capita spending, very good attendance levels. in the various leagues, obviously somewhat driven by team performance, but overall attendance in the NBA and NHL at good levels. And, you know, so I think we feel very good about the trends that exist within the business. We're not seeing any consumer pushback or any strong concern with respect to the economic environment. Overall, I'd say it's steady as she goes.

Great. That's good to hear. Thanks for the color.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Tony Kaplan with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning. This is Yehuda Silverman on for Tony. Just had a quick question or two on the sports segment. So we wanted to talk a little bit about the World Cup and if there's any update on how this contract might work. We've heard that it could be one contract for all the games spread across the country. We're wondering if, A, there's been an update in the selection process and how that's gone, and, B, if it really is one contract across the many different stadiums, how that might play out in terms of the stadiums that are operated by different providers at the moment.

Yeah, I'm not sure where you're getting that, but we have the contract to operate the games in the stadiums we operate, and that's true of the other stadiums. our competitors as well. So we will have the games at Lincoln Financial Field, at Energy Stadium in Houston, and in Kansas. And in Kansas City, we'll have the games there. So there isn't one single contract. There isn't one operator. The services are being provided by the company that's under contract to operate that stadium. We anticipate having positive revenue trends from the World Cup, but also keep in mind that those stadiums, while they're being used by the World Cup, can't be used for concert activity and other events. So all in all, we see it as being relatively revenue and profit neutral to us, not a significant upside or downside to our projected financial results for the year.

Got it. Thank you for clarifying. And then just one quick follow-up also on the sports segment. Similarly, I guess, coming up in 2Q, there's potential tailwind from March Madness being held in a couple stadiums that weren't held previously. Curious if it's a similar scenario where it might be neutral to as they can't have other entertainment or sports events at the stadium at the same time. And alternatively, is there an expected... headwinds from the NFL playoffs, seeing less home games this year than last, or minor just like the MLB?

Yeah, no, I would say, first of all, anything that's scheduled in our stadiums has been on the calendar for quite some time. So if the NCAA Final Four or Sweet 16 or whatever is in one of our stadiums, we'll have the opportunity to serve those and that would have already been baked into our expectations and into our planning process because we know that those things are scheduled well in advance. So it doesn't represent a real change to us in terms of our overall planning process. And, you know, we were lucky enough to have some teams in the NFL playoffs, and it was a good playoff season. We're very fortunate. I'm pleased to say that our clients in Seattle, the Seattle Seahawks, won the Super Bowl. We served their facilities needs there in the stadium in Seattle, and we're very proud to be of service to them. But I would say overall, our expectations for the sports year are pretty consistent with our plans. and really no expectations for either windfalls or downsides.

Yeah, I'll just know in terms of Q1, we did have less, nine or so less major league MLB games. We had the Phillies in the prior year. So that had some headwinds in Q1 and returned to a more normalized growth rate in Q2, as John just mentioned.

Great, thank you.

Our next question comes from Jasper Bibb with Trual Securities. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, everyone. A couple from me on the RWJ Barnabas contract. I guess should we think about this as comparable in size to the Penn Medicine win? And I think I heard launching this summer. How should we think about the timeline for that hitting a mature run rate? Is that going to be more of a fiscal 27 driver or is the in-year contribution for 26 going to be material too?

Yeah, I think it will be a staged opening that will begin this summer. I think we're still working to finalize the actual opening schedules, if you will. So there will be a significant impact in 26. We anticipate beginning to serve them in June and then throughout the balance of the summer should be transitioning. But that schedule is still yet to be determined. Yeah, we're very proud to have been selected to operate Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health System. It's a terrific win. And as you know, the system is actually larger than Penn Medicine's, and ultimately the potential revenues are likely to be as strong as Penn's. So I feel very good about it, and there will be impact in 26, and we'll know more here over the next a few weeks as we develop the implementation schedule.

Great. Thanks for that. And then the Europe growth is really strong. Again, this quarter, it's been a really nice couple of years for that business. Just hoping we can step back and talk about the drivers of your growth in Europe, where you see more opportunity there, and what the pipeline looks like for that business over the balance of the year.

Yeah, I can't say I can't be enthusiastic. I'm sitting here looking for superlatives because they've just done an extraordinary job of building that business over the last several years. They've been hyper-focused on growth, and frankly, it's been a result of improving performance and demonstrating to our clients that we're the company that can deliver to them across a range of countries and a range of geographies. And we've been committed to that growth. We've invested in sales resources and processes and systems, and frankly, in leadership. So we've got great teams on the ground, really focused on building their organizations and enterprises. And they've been able to demonstrate it here now over several years running. And we have very high expectations for them this year as well. So I can't say enough about them. I think, you know, really, really excited by the work that they've done and their performance to date, and we believe that that success will continue. Great.

Thank you for taking the question.

Our last question comes from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Hi. Good morning. Thank you. Actually, my first question is just a follow-up to maybe the prior question and the prior discussion here. Could you talk a little bit about some of these larger platform wins? Is this a change in strategy, a change in go-to-market strategy, or is it just timing of some of these wins? But it does seem like you're seeing some larger wins, unless I'm missing something here. So I just wanted to understand if there's a strategic shift happening behind the scenes, and I have a follow-up as well.

Sure. First of all, I would say yes, there is a strategic shift, and it's really on the part of our clients as they begin to recognize the need to both systemize their operations in order to take advantage of cost synergies and operating synergies. A great example of that is Penn Medicine. Obviously, they had multiple service providers, and they were also self-operating a lot of their business. Their CEO made a very strategic decision to go ahead and consolidate and systemize so that they could capture the cost savings and the synergies and ultimately to reduce costs to patients and to control expenses for the medical institution. So you're seeing more and more of that in healthcare systems. Obviously we are very proud of the services we provide to Baylor, Scott and White in Texas who were really one of the first organizations to apply the systematic approach or the system wide approach to this. I'm very proud to be selected to serve Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas as they apply that same strategy. My belief is that more and more organizations, particularly in healthcare, will continue to pursue that as they recognize the need for cost containment and control. In a world of declining reimbursements from the federal government, they need to operate more efficiently. And we've got the tools and processes and systems in place to enable them to do that in a consolidated way. So I think there is a strategy shift. It's really on the part of our clients and customers and their philosophical change. And we've had great success, and we believe we'll continue to enjoy outsized results as a result of our ability to go ahead and apply those systems and processes to that strategy.

And then just as a follow-up, I wanted to touch on your timing to contract profitability or a breakevenness, however you want to kind of speak to it. Has there been any change in terms of the timing that new contracts are able to kind of start contributing at a faster pace just based on some of the operational improvements and investments, as you just noted specifically? Any changes, especially as we think about maybe some of these larger contracts as well? Thank you.

Some of the larger contract wins this year, as John just mentioned, within healthcare, there's just typically less capital while they're large and complex. Unlike a large sports and entertainment opening, there's just less capital required. And the contractual structure in healthcare is often significantly more geared toward cost plus or cost reimbursable, which helps mitigate some of the large startup costs. So I think you're right this year with some of those large CONTRACTUAL AND OUT THE STARTUP COST MAY BE THE RAMP UP TO PROFITABILITY IS A LITTLE FASTER AND THAT WAS EMBEDDED IN THE PLAN AND THE GUIDANCE THAT WE SET OUT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR.

THANK YOU, EVERYONE.

I WILL NOW TURN THE CALL BACK OVER TO MR. ZILMER FOR CLOSING REMARKS.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Thank you all of you for your support of the company and your questions. Always happy to provide as much information as we possibly can. We like to be as transparent as possible and make this easy. I want to thank the Aramark team for their extraordinary devotion and commitment to customer service. These financial results that we're enjoying now and that we'll enjoy in the future are a direct result of your efforts. So, Aramark team, thank you, and we'll look forward to talking to you again soon. Take care.

Thank you for participating. This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.